Springboard: Online Courses to Future Proof Your Career

I felt like an outsider.

Coming from a performing arts background, the world of data and analysis was entirely foreign to me. While working in customer success at a tech startup, I got a taste of data analytics, and my curiosity grew. I learned SQL and realized its power in working with data to solve problems. I felt engaged and energized: data analytics could help me pursue the strategic planning work that I am passionate about! I just needed to broaden my toolkit a bit.

Springboard fit my needs to a T.

When the Data Analytics for Business course was announced, I was intrigued—I wanted to further my knowledge in Excel, SQL, and Tableau, and the opportunity to work on realistic case studies seemed awesome. I was a bit hesitant in my confidence that I would succeed, since I was coming from a non-technical background, but I decided to just take a leap and give it a try. While I had taken some online MOOC classes previously, I found Springboard to be far superior, as it was flexible around my schedule but still offered individualized attention.

I felt engaged and energized: data analytics could help me pursue the strategic planning work that I am passionate about!

My mentor held me accountable and shared her methodology with me.

My mentor Leslie, who works at Square, was always very encouraging. She guided me along the right path without telling me the answers. The actual human connection through our weekly video calls really propelled me forward. She helped me engage with the material on a level that I would not have been able to on my own.

I worked with Leslie to articulate and pitch my ideas and goals in interviews. Leslie shared her job search and offer consideration strategies with me, and she held me accountable in accomplishing my weekly goals. I gained a lot of value not only from getting feedback on my cases each week, but also from picking her brain on the industry and the applications of the course concepts.

The final step is hugely important: storytelling and data visualization.

The most important thing I learned in the course is how to present my insights. Figuring out how to make meaty data look clear and concise is challenging, but it pays off. When I started my new role as an Operations Manager towards the end of the course, I told my boss about the slide decks I had done with my case studies for the course. I created a slide deck about my department for our first meeting, applying what I learned, and my proposal was accepted!

I use SQL on a regular basis in my new role. I’m also using forecasting to project future needs in my department. I anticipate using more of what I’ve learned to analyze trends and improve service levels.

Springboard helped me get to where I wanted to be.

When I started Springboard, I was between full-time positions and doing mostly freelance work. My confidence in Excel and understanding of how to use data to drive business decisions helped me find a position that is a great blend of my background in customer success and my newfound skills in data analytics.